Seth Rollins’ Curb Stomp Banned; Heel Turns Confirmed on 4/20 RAW

Who can forget this iconic moment from RAW a few weeks ago when Seth Rollins Curb Stomped Brock Lesnar?

Well, as of this week Rollins will no longer use it. According to Bleacher Report, WWE decided to ban the WWE Champion’s signature move due to safety concerns and heightened concussion awareness. It makes sense when you think about the Xtreme Rules stipulation he set last week vs. Randy Orton in which the RKO is banned. It’s likely both superstars were aware at the times Rollins’ Curb Stomp had been banned. In that sense, it makes sense for Orton’s finisher to be banned in their match this Sunday.

Fan reaction to the news has been outrage. Mostly because as of right now, this leaves Rollins without a trademark finisher. An oversight we may see corrected at Xtreme Rules.

Moving on.

As you guys know, when Sheamus returned the RAW after Wrestlemania he came back as a Heel to go with his new look. The dirtsheets refer to the new Sheamus as an Old-School heel: Arrogant, Mean and enjoys beating the shit out of the Faces on the Roster.

I’ll pause for a moment and explain what those terms mean. Face means good guy/girl and Heel means bad guy/girl. There’s various levels of Heel/Face but these are the basic terms you need to be mindful of.

Sheamus cut an amazing promo during his match with Zack Ryder:

I think this segment clears all doubts as to weather or not Sheamus would make a good heel. As he said at the beginning, he could’ve ended the match right after the first Brogue Kick but he decides to keep the match going just for the hell of it. The move was also a nod to those who’ve said for years now Ryder’s been prettymuch demoted to jobbing for other superstars.

In the Divas Division, Naomi (Wife of Jimmy Uso) turned heel last week on RAW when she took out Paige. Angry at being overlooked for a title shot, she took the fight to Brie Bella on RAW and dominated almost the whole match. While The Bella Twins themselves are Heels already, I’m guessing making Naomi a Heel right when Summer Rae is getting pushed as a Face probably means the Divas Championship will change hands at Xtreme Rules where Nikki Bella will face Paige for the title. They’re setting up for Paige to face Naomi later on.

When The Primetime Players got back together as a Face, I had a feeling one of the other tag teams would have to turn Heel to balance things out. it turns out that team is The New Day. No surprised given they were up against the Lucha Dragons (Face). Xavier Woods ran interferance as both teams were being counted out, allowing Kofi Kingston and Big E to pick up the win and punch their ticket to Xtreme Rules to face Cesaro and Tyson Kidd for the Tag Team titles. Weather they win the titles or not, clearly the Primetime Players are being positioned to feud with them.

An interesting development within the Authority last week exploded this week involving Kane and Seth Rollins. After “taking one for the team” last week so Rollins can set a stipulation for his match with Orton at Xtreme Rules, Kane did some soul searching and decided to resign as Director of Operations and Talent Relations (Kayfabe). As a reminder, this is Triple H’s actual position in WWE in addition to being the owner of NXT and now Tough Enough. Anyway, Kane answered John Cena’s open challenge for the US title. He didn’t win but he showed everyone he’s still got it.

Speaking of The Authority, Triple H and Steph have noticably started to fade into the background post-Wrestlemania. Not surprising given all the stuff they’ve been doing behind the scenes. I’m pretty sure Rollins will stay Heel at least until Summer Slam and J&J go with him. The Big Show after Xtreme Rules is anyone’s guess. Kane will probably break off from The Authority after Xtreme Rules since he’s clearly starting a feud with Rollins. If Rollins drops the belt to Orton at Xtreme Rules (it seems to be getting set up that way) Kane will return with the mask to feud with Rollins.

Bray Wyatt dropped a huge clue as to who he’s targeting next during the promo he cut on the 4/20 RAW. He said “You can lift all the weights in the world but there is nothing you can do to lift the weights of your own personal failures” during his promo. The only person it could possibly be is Mark Henry. It’s just a question of when he’ll call him out by name.